Shaky Start Dooms Sox

Garland Rocked

Rally Falls Short

BOSTON — Jon Garland has been in a White Sox uniform for only 18 days, but he already knows the drill.

When Garland pitches well, every Sox fan in Chicago drools over the idea of having him in the rotation for years to come.

And when Garland has a bad outing, everyone cries General Manager Ron Schueler has no choice but to make a move for another starter before the July 31 trading deadline.

After being routed in the fifth inning of the Sox's 8-6 loss to Boston on Saturday, the 20-year-old Garland knew what the reaction back in Chicago would be.

"That's going to happen all year," Garland said. "You can go have a great outing and everyone's like `All right!' People have to realize that it'll take time. You can't jump to conclusions."

White Sox manager Jerry Manuel knows the drill, too, but he's confident Garland's talent will override his inexperience in the long run.

"You have to say we are vulnerable, because you have two of five starters [Garland and Mark Buehrle] who are unproven, but hopefully they are talented," he said. "It's a tough thing to ask of those type of players, putting them in that situation. But we have to ride it through, because that's where we are."

Garland was knocked out with one out in the fifth inning and the White Sox trailing 6-0. He allowed five earned runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out six. Lorenzo Barcelo made his major league debut in relief of Garland, giving up a pair of runs in 2 2/3 innings.

The White Sox offense was limited to two hits through six innings by Boston left-hander Jeff Fassero (7-3) but made a belated rally off the bullpen that ultimately fell short.

Garland (1-2) cruised through the first three innings until giving up a one-out single to Troy O'Leary in the fourth. He walked Jason Varitek to put two men on and with two outs served up a three-run home run to right-center field on a 1-2 slider to designated hitter Scott Hatteberg.

He got into more trouble to start the fifth when Jose Offerman led off with a triple that rolled to the nook in deep right-center--420 feet away from home.

Offerman scored on a sacrifice fly by Carl Everett before Nomar Garciaparra singled to put runners on first and third with one out. O'Leary followed with a line shot to center to score the fifth Red Sox run. A defensive blunder by Jeff Abbott on the play gave them another.

Playing center while Chris Singleton sat against the left-handed Fassero, Abbott appeared confused on where to throw the ball and wound up hurling it into the White Sox dugout, bringing home O'Leary from first to make it 6-0. That was the end of Garland's day.

"I couldn't command my sinker," Garland said, referring to his "out" pitch. "Once they saw that for three or four innings, they sat on pitches. If I could've commanded that, it might be a whole different ballgame."

Fassero was forced to leave the game before throwing a pitch in the seventh because of a cramp in his left calf. Reliever Rich Garces subsequently gave up three runs, but Barcelo gave two back in the bottom of the inning. The White Sox scored three more off Derek Lowe in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate in Jose Valentin with Ray Durham on second.

But Valentin popped out on a 3-1 pitch to keep a sellout crowd of 33,384 from jumping off the Prudential Building.